Milk Break
Interesting article in today's NYTimes: On the Job, Nursing Mothers Find a 2-Class System. Something I'd never thought about, either while I was nursing or after. My current company has lactation rooms—I used one to nurse the Beaner in when I was visiting in March 2005—and since I worked from home part-time while I was nursing, I could nurse him with one hand while typing with the other. Luckily, I never had to pump on a daily basis.
While we middle- and upper-class working women are out picketing for lactation rights, we should give a thought to the women who don't have breaks long enough in which to pump, who have no place to pump, or who can't even afford a breast pump. As the article notes, "It is a particularly literal case of how well-being tends to beget further well-being, and disadvantage tends to create disadvantage — passed down in a mother’s milk, or lack thereof." It's a cruel irony that it's mothers with the lowest-paying jobs who have to pay the most to feed their babies (formula ain't cheap!).